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Pressure to develop new options

The pressure is on for industry to develop new options and for growers to change their practices of how they use products to control the weed spectrum, he adds.

Hager, Tranel and Dean Riechers, a U of I associate professor of herbicide physiology, were recently awarded a grant from Syngenta to study how waterhemp populations evolve resistance. They will collaborate with Syngenta's scientists to find answers regarding the genetics, inheritance and mechanisms of resistance to HPPD inhibitors.

"We are excited for the opportunity to collaborate with industry to learn more about these resistant biotypes," Tranel says. "We want to find practical management recommendations for growers."

Hager says that there is only so much a person can learn by looking at different treatments in a field, but if this is not done, it's difficult to come up with the best recommendations. The U of I weed science team's advantage is their ability to span the range from applied field and greenhouse work to basic DNA sequencing, physiology and genetics work.

At least two companies are developing crop varieties that are resistant to HPPD inhibitors. In the future, both of these companies see HPPD-inhibiting herbicides growing in importance.

"We now have known resistance before the resistant crops are on the market," Tranel says. "That's a real concern."

But Hager thinks it could be a blessing in disguise.

"We have time to learn about this type of resistance in advance before these crop varieties hit the market," Hager said. "If these crops are commercialized, we could have the recommendations in place from the onset to slow the evolution of this resistance."

Their research, "Resistance to HPPD-inhibiting herbicides in a population of waterhemp from Illinois, USA," was published online on January 26 in Pest Management Science. Researchers include Tranel, Hager, Dean Riechers, Nicholas Hausman, and Sukhvinder Singh of the U of I; and Shiv Kaundun, Nicholas Polge and David Thomas of Syngenta.

"Herbicide Resistances in Amaranthus tuberculatus: A Call for new Options" was published online in November 2010 by the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Researchers included Tranel, Hager, Chance Riggins and Michael Bell of the U of I.